2023-06-26 20:59:43
This Monday, June 26, mountaineer Sophie Lavaud became the first Frenchwoman, of all genres, to have climbed the fourteen peaks in the world over 8,000 meters. She realizes this dream thanks to the summit of Nanga Parbat.
Published on: 06/26/2023 – 20:59Modified on: 06/26/2023 – 21:01
The Nanga Parbat, culminating at 8,126 m, in Pakistan, was the last mountain over 8,000 meters that Sophie Lavaud, 55, missed. ” The more I climb these great mountains, the more I realize that we are nothing compared to the immensity of the Himalayas. “, she explained to AFP, before this ascent.
Born in Haute-Savoie, this mountaineer has triple French, Swiss and Canadian nationality. She has completed an extraordinary project: that of climbing these fourteen peaks, the highest in the world. This project began to take shape in her mind in 2012, when she reached her first 8,000, the Cho Oyu, a Tibetan peak.
« In 2015, I resigned from my last job (director of an event company, editor’s note) to take the plunge and devote myself fully to this objective (…) I like the adventure that is part of each expedition, I like the countries, the villages we cross, the encounters, life on the base camps “, she had detailed.
Twelve hours of ascent
No Frenchman had carried out this ambition to the end, despite attempts. In 2012, the adventurer began with Cho Oyu, a Tibetan peak. Two years later, she tackles Everest, the roof of the world. This Monday, June 26, with a team of twenty other mountaineers, she reached the Pakistani summit of Nanga Parbat after twelve hours of ascent.
Sophie Lavaud’s dream comes true at 8126 meters above the ground. Only a few dozen have succeeded, including a handful of women. Another may join them. The expedition was led with Kristin Harila, the Norwegian mountaineer who seeks to climb the same fourteen peaks, in less than six months.
About 40 men and women worldwide have climbed the fourteen Himalayan giants, according to the online database The Himalayan Database. Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, in 1986, was the first to do so. But Sophie Lavaud is the only Frenchwoman, all genres combined, to have accomplished such a feat.
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